Triangular Ag-Pd alloy nanoprisms: rational synthesis with high-efficiency for electrocatalytic oxygen reduction

We report the generation of triangular Ag-Pd alloy nanoprisms through a rationally designed synthetic strategy based on silver nanoprisms as sacrificial templates. The galvanic replacement between Ag nanoprisms and H2PdCl4 along with co-reduction of Ag+/Pd2+ is responsible for the formation of final prismatic Ag-Pd alloy nanostructures. Significantly, these Ag-Pd alloy nanoprisms exhibited superior electrocatalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) as compared with the commercial Pd/C catalyst. Such a high catalytic activity is attributed to not only the alloyed Ag-Pd composition but also the dominant {111} facets of the triangular Ag-Pd nanoprisms. This work demonstrates the rational design of bimetallic alloy nanostructures with control of selective crystal facets that are critical to achieve high catalytic activity for fuel cell systems.